A Broken Jewel (Jade Book 1)

by Lucy Rains

  My lip curled in distaste, “I don’t want to be babysat.”

  “Too bad sister,” Alex teased, “Too many forces against us out there, and you have zero trust in our eyes of behaving on your own.”

  My lip curled higher and I glared at Alex, my glare shifted over to Pierce. His face was impassive, calm. I communicated with my eyes that I didn’t like it. He communicated with his eyes that he didn’t care.

  “You’ve made me a fugitive, taken away what little freedom I had.”

  “We believe it's for the best,” Kyson said.

  “And how so?”

  All four guys looked at each other and it became obvious no one wanted to answer my question. So I tried a different angle. “Why me?”

  “Excuse me?” Pierce asked.

  I leaned back and folded my arms, “So, I’m the only female. So, they test on me. What does it matter to you guys? Why go to all the trouble to pull me out?”

  “Do you wish we hadn’t?” Gavin sneered.

  “I’m not sure yet,” I fired back.

  I’m pretty sure Gavin mumbled something under his breath with the words ungrateful and wench.

  “You can not deny the pull that you feel when around us,” Kyson interrupted. I looked at him, and closed my mouth. I kept my face blank, admitting nothing. “Nor can we,” he glanced to Gavin and then to me, “when around you.”

  I watched Gavin’s face for a moment, expecting him to protest at Kyson’s statement, and felt surprised when he didn’t.

  I swallowed, fidgeting with the hem of my tank top, and looking away. “What does it mean?” I asked quietly.

  “We don’t know.” Kyson answered.

  “But there’s more,” I prompted, “isn’t there?”

  It was silent for a long moment, and I knew there was so much they weren’t telling me.

  Alex looked to Pierce, as did Kyson. He glanced at them and then to me. “We are hoping you will help us.”

  “Help you?”

  Pierce let out a heavy sigh and looked down. “The four of us were kept at your mother’s lab, or what we call the compound, for as far back as we could remember. They found us when we were young, and were brought in.”

  The emotions I felt in the room suddenly felt dark, pained. They were heavy and weighed on me.

  Pierce continued. “Tests. Experiments. Research. I won’t burden you with the details, but it was more torture then anything else.”

  I blanched inwardly. And here I was envying their freedom. I glanced at Gavin, a trickle of understanding beginning to form of his hostility. Then I realized all of his hateful comments about my mother.

  “My mother…?”

  Kyson nodded, “Yes. She was involved.”

  “I thought...she did fertility research?”

  “It's part of her front. Biomolecular research and experimentation.”

  I looked back to Pierce, “How did you guys get out?”

  “The compound tries to keep its inner workings classified, but a government entity found out about them. So, it was either let us go, or be shut down. PPQ had to let us go.”

  “PPQ?”

  Alex answered, “Petrov, Parker and Quinn. The lab is named after your mother and two others.”

  “Just like that?” I asked, “They let you go, just like that?”

  “Don’t be naive,” Gavin sneered, “Of course it wasn't that easy.”

  Pierce raised a hand to stop him, “The government group that helped secure our freedom, we are now contracted to work for them, helping them out in any way they need us.”

  “This government group knows about your abilities?”

  “Well…” Alex started, “mostly. They don’t know about our mental abilities. How I am a lie detector, or that Kyson can see what is wrong with people’s innards. PPQ never knew about them either. Nor do they know about your ability with energy.” He chuckled and looked around, “Hell, we didn’t know about it either until the gas station parking lot.”

  “But, they know we are fast, strong,” Pierce continued, “and have highly tuned senses. So, they appoint us to do the jobs regular humans are not equipped for.”

  I nodded, letting it all sink in. “They pay you?”

  All four guys nodded in confirmation.

  “What kind of jobs?”

  “Espionage, extraction, neutralizing a threat,” Pierce shrugged, “Each job is different.”

  My mind went back to Alex’s comment, “So, if PPQ didn’t know about your other abilities, does that mean, my mother doesn’t know about my energy ability?”

  “All documentation that we have reviewed shows nothing. All they know, is that we are strong, fast, with enhanced senses.”

  I used my fork to scrape at my plate, pushing wrinkled hashbrown pieces around the ceramic surface. “Does this government group know about me?”

  The emotions around me went suddenly tense and I felt like the need to stiffen. They obviously felt strongly about this topic. “No,” Pierce answered firmly. I looked up, surprised. “We want to keep it that way, as long as possible.”

  Before I could ask anymore questions Kyson spoke again, “And so, we come back to your question.”

  I turned my head towards him, slowly realizing my question had never been answered. I had been so side tracked by their words that I forgot that I had wanted to know why they wanted me here with them.

  “We are hoping you will help us.”

  The tension coming from all of them was thick as soil. Rich and dark, and I couldn’t help but lean towards him, desperately wanting to know what it was he was going to say. What could these four powerful men possibly need my help with?

  His head tilted down towards me, holding my eyes in his intense gaze. “We want to take down the PPQ lab. Destroy it.”

  I leaned away from him, settling against the back of my chair again. All sets of eyes were on me, watching my reaction.

  “Why” I questioned in disbelief. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what an impossibly large feat that would be. And what I had to do with it.

  “The others that are like us,” Kyson’s face turned sour, “They are hybrids. Test tube babies.”

  “What?” I gasped.

  “They took our sperm and fertilized eggs, to try and produce more like us. We have found information that they plan to do more. Many more.”

  “And then sell them,” Alex added.

  “To the highest bidder,” Gavin chipped in.

  More information, more data to take in. More pieces to put together. “These other, subjects,” I started, “are they like us?”

  Everyone shook their heads. “They are weaker versions of us,” Alex said. “Not quite as strong, not quite as fast. And no extra mental abilities as far as we can tell also. We’re hoping that remains true.”

  I could feel my mouth turn down in a displeased frown, my eyebrows came together.

  I shook my head. “I don’t see how I can help you all with this. I’ve never even been there. I don’t know anything about the place.”

  Pierce cleared his throat. “Perhaps. But you possess skills that can help us. We would be stronger with you.”

  I understood his reasoning, especially now that they knew about my energy ability. “Destroy how?”

  Gavin leaned back and laced his hands behind his head, “Guns, fire, bombs…Whatever needed to get the job done.”

  “But why?” I pressed, “You’re not there anymore, you’re out. Why do this? Is it a sense of revenge?”

  Gavin leaned forward and pinned me with an aggressive stare, “Because what they are doing is wrong.”

  I shook my head, “Why do you have to be the ones to do this? Why not get the government involved?”

  Gavin rolled his eyes and then closed them, like my questions were physically paining him.

  I looked to Pierce because he was shaking his head, “There is so much you don’t understand.”

  I rolled my own eyes at this. “So you want me to just come in
here, get involved in your own personal mission and risk my life?”

  Gavin shot forward suddenly, his chair scraping back, “You owe us! We saved your ass!”

  “I didn’t ask you to!” I yelled back, beginning to rise from my own seat. I felt the blood warming in my hands as my energy awoke.

  Pierce grabbed Gavin and pulled him back. Gavin shrugged him off and got up from the table.

  “It’s not like I said no,” I continued. “I just need to understand what you’re asking me to get involved in, and why.”

  Gavin let out a frustrated huff and left the table.

  Alex pushed his brown tresses from his forehead and gave me an apologetic smile. “He’s always on edge. But talking about all of this brings it out more.”

  I sat back into my seat and ran my hand over my damp hair. I shrugged off Gavin’s comments. I wasn’t going to take his anger personal. I had done nothing wrong. So why did I feel guilty?

  My eyes glazed and my finger came to my lips as I thought about their request. Taking down a lab? I could handle my own in a fight, I had my energy as a weapon, but doubt still weighed on me that I would be much help in the huge task they had decided to take on.

  Pierce’s eyes locked on my finger and I stopped, dropping my hand. “Thank you for the food,” I said simply.

  Pierce watched for a beat and then nodded. I could tell that he hoped I would share my thoughts but I remained silent. Kyson began gathering up the empty food bowls, standing and taking them to the kitchen.

  No one spoke as we stood up and began clearing their places. I was about to ask where the bathroom was when the sound of shattering glass from the kitchen made my question vanish.

  CHAPTER 10

  Chairs flew back as everyone jumped up and hurried out of the dining room. Kyson stretched a hand out to prevent me from going in front of him and pushed me behind his back as we entered the kitchen. I stood on my tiptoes to peer over his shoulder.

  Running a hand through his hair, Gavin was leaning on a corner counter, “I’m fine. It’s nothing.”

  “Nothing?!” hollered Alex, “How the hell does nothing cause you to drop a glass?”

  Gavin’s cheeks turned a soft shade of pink on his tanned skin. His mouth pinched closed and he ran another hand through his hair. My eyes scanned around the kitchen, searching for the sign of his distress. I caught him glancing quickly to the wall on the other side of the room. My eyes followed his and I moved away from Kyson’s back to push between Alex and Pierce.

  “Its nothing, the glass just slipped!” Gavin said indignantly.

  I took a step closer to the wall and peered under the pine cabinet at a dark spot the size of a penny moving slowly along the wall. A fat black spider.

  Alex came up behind me and looked over my shoulder. He let out a snicker. “Seriously, dude?”

  Gavin bent over and conveniently busied himself cleaning up glass shards, his face out of sight. Pierce and Kyson stepped out of the kitchen, their heads dipped and they spoke in low tones as they walked away.

  I glanced at Gavin, hunched on the ground, raising an eyebrow. “You don’t like spiders?” I asked. The fact was hard to believe with the rough exterior he wore. “Aren’t they a lot smaller than you?”

  He pulled the trash can over and began throwing glass pieces into it. “Yeah, well, so is a grenade.”

  Alex let out a hoot of laughter, then turned to help Gavin with the mess. I shook my head at the ridiculousness of big, bad, Gavin frightened of a half inch creature. I found a paper towel on the counter and squished the offending arachnid. When I turned to throw it away, my big right toe found a stray piece of glass that had flown farthest from the pile.

  Dropping the paper towel, I shrieked in surprised pain and quickly drew my foot up. Crimson blood appeared, and dripped down my foot.

  “Geez Jade,” Alex moaned, “Come here.” He held out a hand towards me. I ignored it and began hopping towards the hall when Alex stopped me with his body. “Let me help you, or I will carry you.”

  Balancing on one foot, I glanced down at his hand, weighing my options.

  Pierce appeared around the corner, “What happened?”, his eyes traced over me till he found my bloody toe. “Why is Jade bleeding?”

  He began to come into my personal space and I held out a hand, “I’m fine. It's just a little cut. Just let me get to the bathroom so I can pull out the glass and the wound can close.”

  Alex's hand was still outstretched and I frowned at it. I glanced at Pierce, he glanced at Alex’s hand and back to me expectantly. Feeling outnumbered, I let out a resigned sigh and put my hand in his. He surprised me by wrapping it around his shoulders, so that he could better help me hop down the hall.

  The closeness of Alex’s body unnerved me. He was the shortest of the four guys, but still a couple of inches taller than me. His arm wrapped around my waist and I stiffened. The weight of his arm, the smell of his skin. My chest warmed against my will and I was taken back to the night of Mia’s party. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

  The bathroom was down the hall from the kitchen, and once there, I quickly separated from him and sat on the counter. I pulled up my foot and crossed it over my knee. Alex grabbed some toilet paper and wiped up the blood that was streaming down the arch of my foot. I tried to grab the toilet paper away from him, but he dodged my reach and smacked my hand away. His blue eyes glanced up to mine and I glared.

  “I can do it,” I insisted.

  He ignored me by opening a drawer next to him and shuffled around the contents, pulling out tweezers. I sighed in resignation and leaned back against the mirror.

  Alex cupped my foot, his hands firm but gentle. I was hyper aware of the feel of his skin on my own. No one had ever touched my feet before, much less a guy. My subconscious took hold of this fact and my hands began sweating. I tried taking a deep breath as I rubbed my sticky palms down my thighs. He removed the glass shard, then cleaned off any remaining blood. The wound healed quickly. No need for a band aid.

  He stood up straight, hands on his hips. “See? Was that so bad?”

  I cringed inwardly at his reference to my apparent tension, despite me trying to hide it. I should have known better.

  Looking down at my foot I frowned, “Depends on what you’re referring to.”

  I could feel his eyes on my face, studying me. Trying to figure me out. Wasn’t it obvious? I was awkward, naive. I had been sheltered and hidden from co-ed interaction for the last several years. To add to all of this, the incident had horrifically skewed my view of the male gender. Putting all of these factors together, my instinct was to shy away from any male contact. And it had been that way for several years. I understood that these guys wanted to help me, that they meant me no harm. Physically, emotionally, sexually. My mind recognized that they were not the enemy. But this wasn't going to change me over night.

  I looked up to meet Alex’s eyes, his hand was rubbing his chin lightly. “So much fear…” He commented softly. “Why?”

  I swallowed, my eyes darting back down from his intense blue stare. In that moment I realized that he could feel my emotions like I could sense his.

  I shook my head and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I’m not ready to talk about that yet.”

  “But you know you can, right?”

  I brought my eyes back to his, my heart pumping so hard in my chest I was sure he could hear it.

  His head tilted, “Talk to me? To us?”

  I nodded in understanding. My eyes glanced to the door and back to his eyes. “Can I have a moment please?”

  He stood there for a moment, not moving. My eyes darted to the toilet. “I need to pee.”

  After Alex left, I used the toilet and washed my hands. My head came up to glance at my reflection. My long thick chestnut colored hair hung in semi-damp tangles over my shoulders. I brought my hands up and wrapped my fingers around the tresses. My hair had never been in my control. Length, style, coloring; I never had a say. I ha
d watched my friends try out the latest styles, creating fun looks within the schools restrictions of propriety. But my hair had never been anything but breast-length, blunt cut, standard deep brown. As I looked at it now, it only said, no, screamed, one thing to me. A reminder of my mother’s control.

  I left the bathroom in search of Pierce. He seemed like the one I would need to talk to about my new goal for the day. Walking down the hardwood hallway, I followed the low murmur of deep voices, until I found Pierce and Kyson sitting in a room that reminded me of NASA control center. Monitors and laptops lined a long table, wires spewing out from behind them. Maps lined one wall, while a large flat panel television lined another wall. The room was dimly lit and looked like a college frat party happened the night before that had never been cleaned up. Cans, pizza boxes, plastic cups, soiled napkins were scattered on both floor and table top. My nose wrinkled.

  Pierce and Kyson looked up, the light from the monitors illuminating their faces.

  “You guys live like pigs.”

  Kyson glanced at the dirty floor while Pierce held my eyes, “We’ve been a little busy the past few weeks.” He shrugged. “Distracted.”

  I had been that distraction. Watching my mom, and preparing to get me away from her. I cleared my throat, “I want to go out today.”

  An eyebrow arched on Pierce’s face, “Oh?”

  I looked between the two of them, “I want to get my hair cut.”

  “Oh, hell no!” Alex shouted from the front living room. Kyson’s mouth turned down, and Pierce remained expressionless.

  My arms folded and I leaned on the door frame. I tried to look confident in my request. Pierce gave a slight nod, “Of course. Gavin and Alex will take you to a suitable place.”

  I nodded in appreciation and turned to leave the room when Alex suddenly appeared beside me. “Why?” He demanded, his eyes running over my hair with a tense look.

  “I don’t need your permission, Alex.”

  The frown on his face matched Kyson’s. I would have laughed if I didn’t feel my control threatened. What little I had mange to gain.

  He lifted his hand like he wanted to touch my hair. I eyed it nervously.